COMMITTEES FOR 2005
The members present at the 10 January 2005 meeting elected the
following members of the Qualifications Committee for 2005:
Tom Sakai Chair, Operation reports
Tom Roseman New members, Roster
Linda Finco Trips, Training

Specifics:Kern County bought us four Rinos, and Dave Miles updated their
firmware and maps.
Nobody was interested in being responsible for the new Ford Explorer,
but with very minor problems, it has been a real asset for CLMRG.
We drove the Explorer 7,776 miles during 2004, which saved CLMRG
7,776 X 0.37 = $2,877. Total mileage on the vehicle was 10,732
at the end of 2004.
Kem Park put the lettering and decal on the Explorer. Carol Burge
coordinated this effort
Sgt. Diederich ordered six more Icom radios for us. On 10 April
2004, Sgt. Kirkland gave us the six radios including chargers
and extra LiIon batteries (at Diederich's retirement party).
They are labeled as followed:
CL 16 is serial #5221991
CL 17 is serial #5221992
CL 18 is serial #5221993
CL 19 is serial #5221994
CL 20 is serial #5221995
CL 21 is serial #5222350
We also received the following:
6 Conterra Adjusta-Pro chest harnesses
6 individual chargers - but not for LiIon batteries
1 6-unit charger ­ again not for LiIon batteries
6 spare LiIon batteries
6 microphones
Cloning software & cable
For consideration next year:
Clean compound as needed
Clean Hut and bathrooms on a regular basis
Get rid of any excess that accumulates in the Hut
Inventory gear in Hut
The Equipment Committee spent a total of $473.43 during 2004.

2004 subject outcomesFound uninjured Found injured Found dead Not found Total
12 1 9 3 25

Group DataCallouts: 22
Total hours expended: 2480
NAWC excused hours: 0
Total Vehicle Miles: 9650
Average number of field members per callout: 6.6

OPERATION REPORTS

2004-06 28 March 2004 Rescue Red Rock Canyon Debbie Breitenstein
Mike Kirkland paged a little after 1715 on Sunday evening, 28
March 2004, and stated that there was a rescue operation for a
climber outside of Jawbone Canyon. The climber, 45-year-old Susan
Dornay from Bear Valley Springs, was stuck 100 feet up a sheer
face in the Ricardo Formations Campground. I (Debbie Breitenstein)
put out a page for a coordinator and then phoned Al Green to make
sure that I had at least one experienced technical rescue person
on the operation. When no one answered my page, I tried to call
some of the coordinators and then put out an additional page stating,
"We have a technical rescue in Red Rock Canyon. Meet at
the Hut by 1800. Bring technical gear. Any coordinator or phone-caller
please contact me on my cell phone."
My thoughts were that the woman had been up on the ledge probably
for a while and that it was going to be twilight when we got there.
I figured if we could get an advance team there, even if it was
only Green and I, we could evaluate the situation and begin to
stabilize it with a little daylight left and perhaps prevent it
from becoming an "injured subject rescue." We would
go to the scene with anyone who had responded to the page. Meanwhile,
additional team members could be assembled and follow us to the
site.
Terry Mitchell had tried to call the number I had given her in
my second page. My phone didn't ring until I carried it into
the Hut. Then it signaled that I had a missed call. I called
Terry back about 1740, and she initiated the callout with Mary
Schmierer assisting. When Walter Runkle and Dave Miles arrived
at the Hut, I sent them and Green out immediately with the sheriff's
vehicle and the gear we had loaded. Bob Huey and Dennis Burge
arrived within minutes, and Huey drove the three of us to the
site.
Green, Runkle, and Miles were starting to go up into the chute
where Susan was stranded. Huey, Burge, and I took ropes and the
rescue seat and headed for the trail that goes behind the ridge.
Our intent was to gain access to the ridge above the subject
and lower a belay line. For anchors, we figured if we couldn't
find a big solid rock to tie in to, we had three perfectly good
bodies that would suffice. CDR Rocky Lacertoso arrived just as
we were moving toward the glow over the ridgeline from the spotlights
that the fire department was shining on Susan. Lacertoso assisted
us by relaying our communications to Miles. The funneling effects
of the neighboring chutes would have made voice communications
impossible otherwise. As it was, we gained the ridge about 35-40
feet to the north and out of sight of any of the team. Had they
really needed us, we could have retreated and reached the other
section fairly swiftly. Fortunately, they didn't need us.
Green, Runkle, and Miles started up the chute below Susan and
eventually worked their way into a chute to her left. There,
Miles belayed Runkle as he crossed to Susan. He was with Susan
by 1840. Staying on Miles's belay, Runkle then established a
stable position and belayed Susan as she down-climbed the chute.
Miles belayed Runkle as he retreated from the location. All
were down within an hour of reaching Susan.
We chatted with Lacertoso and the current Park Service Ranger
(the sole enforcer for that entire region) and then headed home.
NOTE: Dave Miles has been working on possible anchors for the
next Red Rock Canyon operation.
Lesson learned: Take a GPS no matter what you expect to be doing!
Red Rock Canyon is difficult to navigate in the dark. If I had
taken a GPS reading at the front of the chute, we could have found
the correct point on the ridgeline.

2004-08 12 June 2004 Search Tehachapi Tom RosemanAlmost a year after the original searches for Ronald Rosepink,
Sgt. Mike Kirkland scheduled a follow-up search for him. On 3
June, I (Tom Roseman) sent an e-mail callout. Al Green, Werner
Hueber, Linda Finco, Bud Gates, Bob Huey, Dan Bishop, and I committed.
Because the search was scheduled for only one day, I served as
coordinator as well.
We met at the donut shop at 0500 and drove to Tehachapi. Our
assignments were down steep canyons adjacent to the area we had
searched before. We finished our assignments early in the aftermoon
and were transported back to base camp. Hueber worked at the
command post trailer to learn how the new system worked.
We returned to the donut shop that evening. The case remains
open with no clues.Refer to OPERATION REDUX on page 9 of this issue.

2004-20 26-29 November 2004 Search Frazier Park Tom RosemanI (Tom Roseman) had just returned from two weeks in Maui
when I received a call from Janet Westbrook, who was looking for
a leader for a search in the Mt. Pinos area of Frazier Park.
The search was for 64-year-old Robert Komenda, a German-American
who often hiked the area going up to McGill Camp on Mt. Pinos.
Komenda had left on the afternoon of 24 November for a hike and
was looking forward to Thanksgiving with his family the next day.
The search was initiated when he failed to return. The operation
was managed jointly by Kern County and Ventura County.
We had four different teams for four days of searching.
Day one: Leader Roseman, Al Green, Bob Huey, Dave Miles, and Coordinator
Westbrook.
Day two: Leader Roseman, Debbie Breitenstein, Dave Doerr, and
Coordinators Westbrook and Sheila Rockwell.
Day three: Leader Roseman, Tom Sakai, Huey, Dan Bishop, and Coordinator
S. Rockwell
Day four: Leader Sakai, Green, Mike Franklin, and Coordinator
Carol Burge
The search involved many teams and covered a wide area. Each
day, as we failed to find Komenda, the search widened in area
and scope but stayed on the east side of a paved road that was
the search boundary. After four days, the search was postponed
until the next weekend.On the day before the search was to resume on Saturday, Komenda
was found by friends and family members near a trail on the west
side of the paved road. He had apparently died of a heart attack
while returning to his car. A lot of discussion took place after
the search as to why Komenda was not found during the search.
The Kern County Sheriff held a debriefing in order to learn from
this search for the next one. Refer to operation 2004-21 in TP
134.

2004-22 29 December 2004 Rescue Ice House Canyon Tom
RosemanMy old friend the pager went off at 0100 on 29 December
with one last chance for an operation this year. Tom Sakai had
received a call from Sgt. Plank for a search out of Ice House
Canyon near Mt. Baldy. Sakai could not lead the operation because
he had to drive his kids to LAX that morning, so
I (Tom Roseman) took it. Janet Westbrook agreed to coordinate
the callout. Dave Miles and I left the Hut shortly after 0400
and drove through rain and lots of standing water on Highway 395.
We arrived a little before 0700 to an always-welcome hot breakfast
at the Mt Baldy Fire Station. Robert and Richard Encinas, 44-year-old
twin brothers, had called their loved ones (wife and girlfriend)
on their cell phone on Monday night from the Ice House Canyon
saddle to say they would hike out Tuesday morning. When the brothers
did not return home on Tuesday and did not call again, a search
was started. Two teams attempting to reach the saddle late Tuesday
were turned back by darkness, cold, rain, and snow.
Jay Chapman from Sierra Madre, Miles, and I became Team 1 and
started up the canyon in heavy rain and wind shortly before 0900.
The rain turned to sleet and then to groppel snow. As we crossed
the steep slopes, we noticed rivers of snow cascading down the
mountain. We crossed them cautiously and continued up to the
canyon. We reached the saddle wearing snowshoes and found the
brothers in good shape and happy to have an escort for the hike
out. We helped them dig out an abandoned tent buried in the snow
and pack up their tent and headed down the mountain in driving
snow.
Two-thirds of the way down, we met Team 4 from Sierra Madre, who
had diverted from their Chapman Trail assignment to join us.
We arrived at the trailhead shortly before 1600 to a KTLA 5 news
crew and heavy rain. The brothers reunited with their ladies
at the fire station. We enjoyed another hot meal and headed home
but not before getting on film for the 10:00 p.m. news. We secured
at the Hut around 1900. As someone mentioned, things are going
well when Team 1 finds the subjects.
While we were in the field, Westbrook had put a second group on
call for Thursday: Mike Myers, Walter Runkle, Curtis Davis, and
Dan Bishop. She also excelled in keeping up with the weather
and road conditions as a major winter storm was in progress (three
inches of rain in Ridgecrest).

2005-01 6-7 January 2005 Search Kernville Tom SakaiAt 1930 on Thursday, 6 January, I (Tom Sakai) answered a call
from Mike Myers, who had received a call from Sgt. Mike Kirkland,
Kern County Sheriff's Office, who had requested assistance on
a search for an overdue hiker. Myers could not take the operation
and was looking for a leader who could. I took the operation.
The hiker was Joe Nelson, 73 years old, who lived in the area
and often hiked the Bull Run Creek Trail for about an hour each
time. He had gone out for a hike at 1100 that morning and had
not returned. His wife reported him overdue late that afternoon.
The weather forecast called for rain in the area starting about
midnight, so the sheriff wanted to start the search immediately.
I got Carol Burge to coordinate. Bud Gates, Eric Toler, David
Miles, Dennis Burge, Curtis Davis, Paul DeRuiter, and Ellen Schafhauser
responded. Karen Botham helped as telephoner. We met at the
Hut at 2030, were on the road by 2100, and arrived at the command
post (CP) at 2200. Several teams from Kern Valley SAR were already
searching.
Two trails start at the same trailhead, the Bull Run Creek and
Whiskey Flat Trails. Mr. Nelson always hiked the Bull Run Creek
Trail, but he had been on the Whiskey Flat Trail with family members
two weeks before and had mentioned that he would someday like
to explore that trail further. We started our assignment of searching
the Whiskey Flat Trail, which runs more than 15 miles, at 2300.
After searching along the trail and adjacent areas for more than
three hours, Miles discovered two sets of fresh tracks on the
trail that stood out from other older tracks. After following
these for a while, we noticed that one set of tracks returned
and the other did not. Because we knew Mr. Nelson's shoe size
but not the type of shoe he was wearing or its tread, we could
only speculate whether they were his.
We followed these tracks until 0300, when I decided to split the
team-four to continue tracking and the other four to return to
the CP and possibly drive to the north end of the trail to look
for the tracks there. Snow started at 0400 and within a few minutes
was obscuring the tracks. The lead team then turned around after
covering about 6.5 miles in 5 hours. They were back at the CP
at 0620.
The sheriff had 14 searchers scheduled to start later in the morning,
so we decided to return home. We left the CP at 0700 and on the
drive home assisted an uninjured motorist who had lost control
of his vehicle on the slick, snowy Highway 178 just west of the
Inyokern Airport and overturned it. We called 911 and waited
with him until the highway patrol arrived. We were back at the
Hut by 0930.
After we left, the sheriff interviewed Mrs. Nelson again and was
able to determine with high probability that the tracks we had
followed were Mr. Nelson's. Mr. Nelson was found alive, but suffering
from exposure, about 1530 that day. He died in the hospital late
that evening.

OPERATION REDUX

The Bakersfield CalifornianTuesday March 15th, 2005
Remains may belong to lost paraglider.
News bittersweet for searchers, who had scoured rugged terrain
since 2003
By CHRISTINA VANCE, Californian staff writer
A skull discovered by hikers led coroner's officials to tentatively
identify the body of a paraglider missing since 2003. Ronald
Keith Rosepink, 46, was last seen alive on June 28, 2003, in the
Tehachapi mountains near Bear Valley Springs.
On Tuesday, searchers found the remains of a glider and human
body in a dying patch of brush that was about 12 feet high and
40 yards in diameter, sheriff's Cmdr. Rocky Lacertoso said. The
body was only about a half-mile from the Tehachapi Bowl paraglider
launch site where Rosepink's vehicle was originally found, searchers
said.
Thousands of flight and ground hours were poured into the exhaustive
search for Rosepink, Lacertoso said. Based on Rosepink's logs
from previous flights, rescuers went as far as Lake Isabella and
Mojave in their search for him. A military helicopter and Air
Force buddies also joined the search. At the time of his disappearance,
Rosepink was a reserve lieutenant colonel assigned to a test squad
at Edwards Air Force Base, Lacertoso said.
After an initial seven-day search in 2003, Lacertoso said searchers
conducted about six other smaller operations looking for the missing
man. Civilian teams did their own searches as well. One such
informal team was made up heavily of active, former, or auxiliary
military searchers with wilderness rescue experience, David Gemperle
said. He and Rosepink were search and rescue instructors in high
school together and both went into the military. Gemperle said
it didn't seem right to have a wilderness rescuer lost.
A dozen searchers looked for 17 days for Rosepink on a ranch in
the area, and they had future searches planned. "The terrain
is very foreboding, very difficult. We were literally on hands
and knees," Gemperle said. Still, no luck. But on Saturday,
hikers found a human skull at the bottom of a ravine in a rugged
canyon, Chief Deputy Coroner Jim Malouf said. They brought the
skull to sheriff's officials on Monday. "We immediately
knew it wasn't old or Native American," Malouf said. A quick
check of dental records showed a close match with Rosepink's teeth,
Malouf said.
At first light on Tuesday, searchers returned to the area. Their
9:45 a.m. find appeared to confirm Malouf's suspicions. "When
we found the rest of the remains and the paraglider, it all came
together," he said. The body was in a brushy area within
the original search area, Lacertoso said.
Rugged patches of brush that could reportedly hide a 747 airplane
were scattered in the search area, Rosepink's friend Gary Bruce
Eaton said. Searchers repeatedly plunged into thickets looking
for Rosepink. "They'd come out like they'd been in a fight
with 10 guys with a razor," Eaton said.
Eaton characterized Rosepink, a hot air ballooning buddy, as incredibly
skilled and humble.
If dental charts and X-rays confirm the body is Rosepink's, Eaton
said he's anticipating a full coroner's report on the cause of
death. He guessed the impact of landing must have been debilitating.
"If Ron Rosepink only broke both legs, he'd get out. That
guy's tough," he said.
Lacertoso said Tuesday's news was bittersweet for Rosepink's wife,
Deborah, who had been fighting to get insurance money. Mrs. Rosepink
had a close relationship with searchers, once even accompanying
them and cooking for them, Lacertoso said. "We've all been
so intimately involved with this search," Lacertoso said.
"We're glad that he's now going to be back with his family."Refer to operations 2003-02 (TP 129), 2003-04 (TP 131), and
2004-08 (TP 134).

SUMMARY OF PAST TRIPS

Date Location Participants Notes
Dec 15 Janet Westbrook's house 10 members and 9 guests Christmas
party
Dec 17-19 N. Palisade from Palisade Glacier Dan Bishop, Bob Huey,
Jan Lorenzen 2nd lake the first day; Sam Mack Meadow the next
day.
Dec 27 Trona Peak Bob Rockwell, Daryl Hinman
Dec 26 Owens Tom Roseman Found cell phone near scree part; called
home.
Dec 30-Jan 2 Whitney Area Bob Rockwell Happy New Year
Jan 1 Owens Peak 11 people 1_ miles before parking lot; 4 hours
to get to summit' nice day
Morris Peak Carol Burge, Al Green, Werner Hueber, Bud Gates From
Walker Pass, 4-5" of snow at pass; 2' of powder at top.
Jan 15 Argus Peak Bob Huey, Linda Finco, Al Green, Carol Burge,
Dave Doerr, and 5 guests. Beautiful hike. High point was seeing
the wild horses.
Jan 23 Corkscrew Ellen Schafhauser, Al Green, and Carol Burge
The last section to the summit was real loose, so Al and Carol
turned back. Ellen went on to the summit.
Feb 5 Owens Peak Rockwell, D. Burge and guests
Feb 7-11 Pear Lake Hut Tom Roseman, Werner Hueber, Al Green, Carol
Burge, Ellen Scahfhauser, Linda Finco, Debbie Breitenstein, and
3 guests 10 people went. Linda and Debbie stayed back (both were
sick). Trip was nice; skiing was not great. Miserable hike out
on Friday. Tom and Werner climbed and skied Winter Alta and Summer
Alta.
Feb 11 Whitney Area Mike Myers, Bob Huey, Dave Miles
Hiked in on Friday. Started on the Whitney Road switchback around
0925. Made it to the Meyson Lake Trailhead at 1115, had to put
on snowshoes. Had lunch at the Portal and made it to the N. Fork
crossing around 1400. Destination for the day was lower BS Lake,
but decided that was not doable. Set up camp and then hike towards
Lone Pine Lake to break trail for trip next weekend. Returned
to camp, but decided a warm dinner in Lone Pine would be the better
option. So packed up and hiked back to the car. Dinner in Lone
Pine!

We had a kind of simplified version of a rating system.
If we did not have a rope it was Class 3. If we had a rope,
but did not have the right pitons it was Class 4. If we had a
rope and pitons (and used them) it was Class 5.--Jules Eichorn

SHERIFF'S APPRECIATION DINNERLoren Castro

Sheriff Mack Wimbish welcomed members of 10 volunteer search
and rescue groups to his annual appreciation dinner at Hodel's
Restaurant in Bakersfield on Friday, 18 March 2005. Members of
the Bakersfield, China Lake Mountain, Cooks, Desert, Divers, Indian
Wells Valley, Kern Valley, Mounted, Southern Kern, and Tehachapi
groups enjoyed the buffet dinner and the company.
Bob Rockwell, Tom Roseman, Linda Finco, Honorary Member Tom Stogsdill,
Debbie Breitenstein and guests Gene and Judy Breitenstein, David
Miles and guest Carin Miles, Ellen Schafhauser and guest Bob Lowe,
and Loren Castro and guest Carol Clark were the CLMRG members
who attended.
David Miles was our Contributor of the Year.
The following members were recognized for longevity of servce
with awards:
10 years: Dr. Bill Ferguson
20 years: Loren Castro
35 years: Bob Rockwell

Check our web page at http://www.clmrg.org.
Check the California Region's web page at http://www.crmra.org.
Newsletters from other MRA groups, catalogues, etc. are available
in the Hut.
All telephone numbers in The Talus Pile are area code 760
unless noted otherwise.
Lura Osgood's haikus appear originally in Gary Bogue's column
in the Contra Costa Times.
Webmistress Janet Westbrook reports that Ridgenet is willing not
to charge us for our web page.